Early life

Zylberstein was born Elsa Florence Zylbersztejn in Paris to an Ashkenazi Polish father, Albert Zylberstein, and a Catholic mother. Her father is a physicist. Zylberstein felt both Jewish and Christian; now she is "attracted to Buddhist rites". She has practised classical dance since her childhood. After a Baccalauréat A3, she began university and studied English, but she was strongly attracted to artistic pursuits. She was in the same class as Francis Huster at the Cours Florent.

Career

In 1991, Elsa Zylberstein appeared in Van Gogh directed by Maurice Pialat. In 1992, she won the Michel Simon Prize and the first of her three nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actress. In 1993, she played a student in Beau fixe, and won the Prix Romy Schneider.

She inspired young directors such as Pascale Bailly, Diane Bertrand and especially Martine Dugowson, who offered her the lead role alongside Romane Bohringer in Mina Tannenbaum (1994). She then appeared in Farinelli, Mr N., and Jefferson in Paris. She played Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec, and then the mistress of the artist, Modigliani, in Modigliani. Zylberstein played a Yiddish singer who falls in love with a gay clarinetist in Man Is a Woman, with Antoine de Caunes. She also gained roles in Time Regained, Love Torn in a Dream, and That Day.

In 2006 she played Mathilde, an Orthodox Jewish woman faced with marriage problems in Little Jerusalem. She also appeared in J'invente rien, based on a novel by Christine Angot. In 2008, she was in two films presented at the Berlin Festival: I've Loved You So Long, with Kristin Scott Thomas, and La Fabrique des sentiments.

Personal life

Zylberstein dated Antoine de Caunes between 1997 and 2005. Then she was in couple with Nicolas Bedos from 2005 to 2008. Later she dated Georges-Marc Benamou, advisor to French president Nicolas Sarkozy, although she is a staunch supporter of the Socialist Party.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1989	Baptême	Gabrielle	René Féret
1990	Chillers	Isabelle	Maurice Dugowson	TV Series (1 Episode)
1991	Génial, mes parents divorcent !	Thomas's Sister	Patrick Braoudé
	Van Gogh	Cathy	Maurice Pialat	Acteurs à l'Écran - Best Actress Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress
	La neige et le feu		Claude Pinoteau
	Alisée	Alisée	André Blanchard
1992	Amoureuse	The Farsighted	Jacques Doillon
	Beau fixe	Frederique	Christian Vincent	Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress
	Princesse Alexandra	Sister Ermenegilde	Denis Amar	TV Movie
	La grande collection	Mercedes	Gérard Vergez	TV Series (1 Episode)
1993	De force avec d'autres	Do	Simon Reggiani
	La place d'un autre	Florence	René Féret (2)
	Comment font les gens	Yvette	Pascale Bailly	Short
	L'orange amère	Fanny	Olivier Sadock	Short
	The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	The Telephone Girl	Simon Wincer & Carl Schultz	TV Series (1 Episode)
1994	Mina Tannenbaum	Ethel Benegui	Martine Dugowson	Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actress
	Farinelli	Alexandra	Gérard Corbiau
1995	Jefferson in Paris	Adrienne de La Fayette	James Ivory
1996	A Saturday on Earth	Claire	Diane Bertrand
	Portraits chinois	Emma	Martine Dugowson (2)
1997	Tenue correcte exigée	Lucie	Philippe Lioret
	Metroland	Annick	Philip Saville
	XXL	Arlette Stern	Ariel Zeitoun
1998	Man Is a Woman	Rosalie Baumann	Jean-Jacques Zilbermann	Cabourg Film Festival - Best Actress
	Lautrec	Suzanne Valadon	Roger Planchon
1999	Je veux tout	Eva	Guila Braoudé
	Time Regained	Rachel	Raúl Ruiz
	Bonne Nuit	Susan		TV Movie
2000	Là-bas... mon pays	Pierre Nivel's Wife	Alexandre Arcady
	Love Torn in a Dream	Lucrezia / Jessica / Sultane	Raúl Ruiz (2)
2001	Les fantômes de Louba	Louba	Martine Dugowson (3)
	Un ange	Léa Pastore	Miguel Courtois
	Not Afraid, Not Afraid		Annette Carducci
2002	Féroce	Zébulon	Gilles de Maistre
	Jean Moulin	Antoinette	Yves Boisset	TV Movie
2003	Monsieur N.	Albine de Montholon	Antoine de Caunes
	That Day	Livia	Raúl Ruiz (3)
	3 Blind Mice	Nathalie	Mathias Ledoux
	Qui perd gagne !	Angèle Berstein	Laurent Bénégui
2004	Tomorrow We Move	Michèle	Chantal Akerman
	Pourquoi (pas) le Brésil	Christine Angot	Laetitia Masson
	Modigliani	Jeanne Hébuterne	Mick Davis
2005	Little Jerusalem	Mathilde	Karin Albou	Nominated - Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress
	La cloche a sonné	Léa	Bruno Herbulot
	Journées froides qui menacent les plantes		Virginie Chanu
2006	J'invente rien	Mathilde Mahut	Michel Leclerc
	Le concile de pierre	Clarisse	Guillaume Nicloux
	Petits meurtres en famille	Édith	Edwin Baily	TV Mini-Series
2007	Unknown Things	The Young Woman	Bruno Coppola
	Childhoods	Ingmar Bergman's Mother	Safy Nebbou
2008	La fabrique des sentiments	Éloïse	Jean-Marc Moutout
	I've Loved You So Long	Léa	Philippe Claudel	César Award for Best Supporting Actress Chlotrudis Awards - Best Supporting Actress
	Nuit de chien	Maria de Souza	Werner Schroeter
	Nucingen House	Anne-Marie	Raúl Ruiz (4)
2009	La folle histoire d'amour de Simon Eskenazy	Rosalie	Jean-Jacques Zilbermann (2)
	La double inconstance	Flaminia	Carole Giacobbi	TV Movie
	Myster Mocky présente	Various	Jean-Pierre Mocky	TV Series (1 Episode)
	Vénus & Apollon	Angie	Pascal Lahmani	TV Series (8 Episodes)
2010	Roses à crédit	The Pharmacist	Amos Gitai
2011	Un baiser papillon	Marie	Karine Silla
	JC comme Jésus Christ	Herself	Jonathan Zaccaï
	Les tribulations d'une caissière	Marie	Pierre Rambaldi
2012	Plan de table	Catherine	Christelle Raynal	Alpe d'Huez International Comedy Film Festival - Best Acting
	Lines of Wellington	Sister Irmã Cordélia	Valeria Sarmiento	Nominated - CinEuphoria Awards - Best Ensemble
2013	À votre bon coeur mesdames	Sister Blandine	Jean-Pierre Mocky (2)
2014	Gemma Bovery	Wizzy	Anne Fontaine
2015	The Price of Desire	Romaine Brooks	Mary McGuckian
	Un plus une	Anna Hamon	Claude Lelouch	Nominated - Lumières Award for Best Actress
	Amazon	Amazon Priestess	Jeno Udvardi
2016	The Stalking Moon	Veronique Fournier	Antonio Galloro

Theatre

Year	Title	Author	Director	Notes
1990	Joko's Anniversary	Roland Topor	Jean-Louis Jacopin	Petit Odéon
1991	Eurydice	Jean Anouilh	Georges Wilson	Théâtre de l'Œuvre
1993	Pygmalion	George Bernard Shaw	Bernard Murat	Théâtre Hébertot
1997-98	Six Characters in Search of an Author	Luigi Pirandello	Jorge Lavelli	Théâtre de l'Eldorado
2000	Le Malin Plaisir	David Hare	Jacques Lassalle	Théâtre de l'Atelier
2003	Proof	David Auburn	Bernard Murat (2)	Théâtre des Mathurins
2005	Laissez-moi	Marcelle Sauvageot	Laetitia Masson	Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord
2007	Gamines	Sylvie Testud	Sylvie Testud	Théâtre national de Nice
2009	Le Démon de Hannah	Antoine Rault	Michel Fagadau	Théâtre des Champs-Élysées
2011	Le Temps qui passe	Karine Silla-Pérez	Vincent Pérez	Théâtre des Mathurins
2012	Les Derniers Jours de Stefan Zweig	Laurent Seksik	Gérard Gélas	Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau
2014	Vita and Virginia	Eileen Atkins	Jean-Marie Besset	Festival NAVA
	Splendour	Géraldine Maillet	Catherine Schaub	Théâtre de Paris Globes de Cristal Award - Best Actress

[ Source: Wikipedia ]